Tracy Swinger makes presentation at prestigious physics conference

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Tracy Swinger

LOCK HAVEN, PA (03/29/2012)(readMedia)-- Lock Haven University had a major presence when the world's leading physicists assembled in Boston, Massachusetts, February 27 - March 2, for the 2012 March meeting of the American Physical Society (APS).  One of the presenters was Tracy Swinger, a junior and a Biology major at Lock Haven University.

The APS March meeting is the largest physics meeting in the world. Each year since 2009, LHU nanotechnology students have been presenting their research at the APS conference. The record began in 2009 with a single LHU student presenter with Dr. Senevirathne. This year, there were 16 LHU student presenters. Dr. Marian Tzolov, associate professor of Physics, and Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, assistant professor, directed the trip to Boston.

Tracy Swinger gave a poster presentation on her research titled "Excitation autofluorescence spectroscopy of gram positive and gram negative bacteria" which explores a unique way of optical detection of the bacterial type. Her presentation was recognized as an outstanding presentation of undergraduate research by the Society of Physics Students in a special award ceremony. Tracy Swinger was working closely with her classmate Brittni Blust under the supervision of Dr. Marian Tzolov, associate professor in Physics and in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Calabrese, professor in Biology.

Dr. Tzolov explained that "optical detection has the inherent advantages of being fast, noninvasive, and without byproducts. We succeeded to find a way to discriminate optically between the two major types of bacteria – Gram positive and Gram negative – which is the first step in future applications in optical sensing devices."

Ms. Swinger is a resident of Northampton, Pa., and she is a daughter of Raymond and Darla Swinger.

Dr. Tzolov emphasized that "it is a very interesting experience to work with biology students like Tracy Swinger. She was very intelligent to respond to the challenges of such interdisciplinary work and I am very glad that she was awarded by the Society of Physics Students."

Attendance at the APS March meeting typically includes more than 12,000 of the top scientists in physics and chemistry research throughout the world. Attended Nobel laureates included William Phillips (1997 Nobel Prize in Physics) at NIST and Robert Laughlin (1998 Nobel Prize in Physics) at Stanford University.

The presentation by Tracy Swinger and her colleagues is based on experimental results which the students acquired using the state-of-the-art equipment at Lock Haven University guided by the experienced faculty in the Nanotechnology program.

Lock Haven University is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the largest provider of higher education in the commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 405,000 system alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.